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Vale Inco Newfoundland and Labrador Inc. is concerned about the impact a "lengthy" strike is having on its Voisey's Bay workforce and the communities in which they live, so it has made a new offer to striking workers there.

Company spokesman Bob Carter said Vale Inco Newfoundland and Labrador Inc. made a comprehensive new offer to about 200 striking workers that covers both language and monetary issues.

"We fully expect that we'll be hearing from the Steelworkers in short order as to their response," Carter told The Sudbury Star on Friday.

About 130 members of the mine and mill unit of United Steelworkers Local 9508, employed by Vale Inco Newfoundland and Labrador Inc., have been on strike since Aug. 1. Another 70 employees of contractors hired by Vale Inco are also on strike and are members of the same local.

The Voisey's Bay operation employs 450 to 500 people, said Carter. Because it is a remote site, it employs several contractors to supply support services.

On its website, Vale Inco Newfoundland and Labrador Inc. told striking employees it had submitted a revised offer to the union's bargaining committee. Carter would not give details of the new proposal.

"Our offer, in our view, is a framework for resolution from our perspective," he said in an interview from Toronto. "We have had a strike that is well into its fifth month. It's having a negative effect as you can appreciate on our employees, on their families, on the communities in which they live and on the business, and we have to move forward. And we are examining what that looks like."

The best option, said Carter, is to resolve the strike so Voisey's Bay can resume production of nickel and copper concentrates, something it has not done since June.

Wayne Fraser is director of United Steelworkers District 6, which represents members in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces. Fraser is deeply involved in the Voisey's Bay strike, as well as the six-month strike in Sudbury and Port Colborne by 3,200 members of USW Locals 6500 and 6200.

Fraser said USW staff representative Myles Sullivan will travel to Labrador to meet with Local 9508's bargaining team Monday.

"Listen, as far as we're concerned, we want to go back to the bargaining table," said Fraser, "just like we do in Sudbury."

The situations at Vale Inco in Newfoundland and Labrador and in Ontario are virtually mirror images.

In Voisey's Bay, no formal bargaining has taken place. Some union representatives have met with Vale Inco representatives and a provincial mediator. But Local 9508 members have not received a settlement proposal from Vale Inco and haven't voted on anything.

Vale Inco Newfoundland and Labrador Inc. has filed a complaint of bad-faith bargaining against USW in Labrador. Here in Ontario, USW has filed the same complaint against Vale Inco Ltd.

"Vale is portraying this as a good deal," said Fraser of the new offer. "There's still the same sort of concessions on the table as there are in Sudbury, around the bonus and stuff, so it's a lot of bells and whistles. There's not a lot of meat on the bone."

In contrast to Carter's assertion that the new offer is a comprehensive one, Fraser said it contains "a lot of the same stuff with a few tweaks here and there."

As it did in Ontario, Vale Inco Newfoundland and Labrador Inc. posted its first offer to USW members online. Carter said the new proposal would not be made public until the union responds to it.

Fraser said the union has about a week to reply.

"If Vale's serious about bargaining, then our guys will bargain. If they're not serious ..."

So far, said Fraser, Vale Inco Newfoundland and Labrador Inc.'s proposal has only dealt with "their issues. They haven't once talked about the issues our bargaining committee put across the table."

In Sudbury, the company proposal to move from a defined benefit to a defined contribution pension plan for new hires is one of the key strike points, as is changes to the nickel bonus.

Voisey's Bay Steelworkers already have a defined contribution pension, but the nickel bonus is a key issue there.

Fraser speculated Vale Inco Newfoundland and Labrador Inc. wants to resume production in Voisey's Bay because its Thompson, Man., operation is running out of nickel concentrate. Vale Inco Newfoundland and Labrador Inc. exports its nickel concentrate to Manitoba and to Ontario.

A Steelworker from Sudbury, who did not wish to be identified, is furious about Vale Inco Newfoundland and Labrador Inc.'s statement on its website ( www.vinlnegotiations.com)that it was concerned about its striking members.

Vale Inco in Ontario has not shown any concern for strikers or it would have accepted their many offers to return to bargaining, she charged.

Vale Inco Sudbury spokesman Steve Ball said Vale Inco is "always concerned about the well-being of our employees, regardless of which operation" they are at.

But the strike in Voisey's Bay and the strike in Sudbury involve two different sets of negotiations in two different provinces, said Ball.

While USW has said there will be no deal in Voisey's Bay until there's a deal in Sudbury, Ball said that "to us, they're completely separate negotiations. They're going to move along at separate stages and with different things happening."